ICT: Tribes shouldn't fight NIGC Class III regulation

Friday, November 10, 2006  

"Dangerous doors flew open when a recent federal court decision sharply limited the National Indian Gaming Commission's regulatory powers. The decision gave a victory to a maverick tribe resisting NIGC oversight, but it could be short-lived. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals gave an open invitation to Congress to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the statutory foundation for the enormously successful tribal gaming industry. In an atmosphere in which IGRA could be in flux, all of the parties that have fostered the phenomenal growth of tribal gaming, and its enormous economic contribution to Indian country, should be working together to protect it against predictable raids from outside interests.

The NIGC, an independent federal agency in the Interior Department, is an integral part of this structure. Unfortunately, many tribes - and their trade organization, the National Indian Gaming Association - have sought to restrict its reach and limit its budget. There is legitimate cause to debate the NIGC's claims of oversight power, but too often the antagonism obscures the very real benefit that strong supervision brings to gaming operations and to the tribes and tribal members that they serve.

We have heard rhetoric that NIGC impinged on tribal sovereignty. But the expression of sovereignty is a government-to-government relationship with the federal government, independent of the states. Why is it better for tribes to make state governments, their traditional enemies and plunderers, the primary supervisors of Class III casinos?

The NIGC repeatedly proclaims that its mission is to protect the interests of the tribes and the tribal members. The Indian gaming industry should be seeking common ground as Congress turns to a now inevitable re-examination of IGRA."

Get the Story:
Fight against regulation won't help tribal gaming (Indian Country Today 11/9)